Evers signs Republican-authored bill to expand Wisconsin child care tax credit

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic Gov. Tony Evers signed a Republican-authored bill Monday that dramatically expands the state child care tax credit, days after vetoing three other GOP bills that would have delivered $800 million in tax cuts.

The governor signed the bill at a charter school in Waukesha on Thursday morning. He said in a statement that he approved the measure because “the cost of child care is too darn high.”

“Signing this bill today will go a long way toward defraying yearly family expenses on child care, giving Wisconsinites some breathing room in their household budgets and making sure our kids have the early support and care they need,” Evers said in the statement.

The median child care cost last year in Milwaukee County, the state’s most populous county, was $19,096, equivalent to about 26% of the median family income of $62,314, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The cost last year in Dane County, the state’s second-most populous county, was $19,586, equivalent to about 17.6% of the $94,813 median family income.

The bill expands the state child care tax credit to 100% of the claimants’ federal child care tax credit. Currently filers can claim only 50% of the federal credit on state taxes. The amount of maximum eligible expenses under the state credit would grow from $3,000 to $10,000 for one qualifying dependent and from $6,000 to $20,000 for two or more dependents.

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«READ MORE» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-show-loadmore=«true» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> READ MORE </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> Republican state senator to run for open